Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1887-11-03
A Human Electric Battery.


Anton Saverne, Belgian cabinet
maker, employed at a Kensington
shipyard and living all alone in the
little frame house No. 962 Schleswie
street, has the wonderful power Of
producing electric sparks by rubbing
his fingers. Saverne is little, swar-
thy fellow, about forty years old, with
bushy head of black hair, keen blue
eyes-very rare among his country
men-and very small hands. His mo-
tons prove that he is excessively ner-
vous, and his senses of hearing, sight.
and smell, as he assured a reporter of
the Daily N5WS, are unusually acute.
His parents still live on a farm in
Belgium, near Brussels, and he is the
youngest Of a family of eleven chill
dren.
81 know not how do it. he said
last evening, as the reporter saw
sparks shoot from Sayerne's fingers.
The cabinetmaker rubbed his finger
tips rapidly up and down upon his
pantaloons. Then, holding his hands
out, with the fingers widely extended,
jets of tiny yellow flames or long
sparks shot out. They seemed pro-
PEELED by some unseen force, ten or
twelve inches into the air, when they
vanished. The right hand appeared
more charged with electricity, if the
sparks are electric, than the left The
lamp in Saycrnes front room there
are only two in the house-was put
out so that the sparks might be seen
Ia "a 2
derful sight. Again and again did the
bushy-headed Belgian rub his fingers
and hold them out while tiny showers
Of bright sparks darted out as from
toy fireworks.
al was not always so, said Saverne,
Lighting the lamp and his black pipe,
filled with yillainous tobacco, at the
same time. "Whcn | was sick, ten
years ago, it was said | would die. |
lay very weak one night in my fathers
house when there came up a storm.
Such thunder and lightning / never
knew before. And my body had such
queer sensations. While / lay, covered
up with the bcd-clothes, my mother
sat holding her face in her hands, by
my side, and | seemed to feel thou
sand needles pricking my limbs aud
chest and the soles of my feet. 1t was
not so painful for queer thrills came
with every prick, and when the thun-
der rolled away and the rain stopped,
l rose up, leaned back, and put out
my hand to take that Of my mothers
My eyes were closed, but / heard her
cry, 'Antonr
What? | gaapoI weakly.
our hand
II looked at it. The one nearest to
her. 1t was afame. God preserve us.
| was terrified. My cry brought my
father and sister to the room. They
looked at me in horror. | took my
other hand from the clothes to rub my
right. Sparks shotfro the fingers Of
the left Soon they died away, but l
have but to rub my hands as you have
seen and the lights come.
Sayerne told of the hardships
brought upon him by his singular
faculty. The neighboring peasants in
Belgium avoided him and told awful
stories of his being in league with the
Devil. Men would not hire him to
pillow or in harvest time. His own
family clung to him, but the farm was
small, and he came to this country
five years ago. Here he learned the
cabinetmaking trade and got employ
IN mt ut finishing ship interiors. But
when his companions saw his faculty,
or inlirmity, they treated him coldly.
His ignorant neighbors in Schleswig
street regard him as possessed of an
evil spirit. Saverno's electric fingers
are the curse Of his existence. Pbiia-
delphig NGWS.